


Star Wars - Horizon

by ZenRay_055



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Star Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24113539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZenRay_055/pseuds/ZenRay_055
Summary: 200 years after the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Triumvirate is threatened by a sinister crime lord, Lord Durrve.An unlikely team from the depths of Coruscantbands together to stop the evil crime lord and his organizationfrom toppling the long-standing Galactic Triumvirate, but will they be able to stop him?





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
226 ABY  
Coruscant 

The sky was blue. The sun was bright. Everyone on Coruscant seemed to be in a joyous mood this evening. But not Irevene. Not with the task at hand. 

Speeding through the Coruscant sky in her borrowed airspeeder, she felt out of place. She belonged in the lower fringe levels of this planet, where it was dark and musty. That was her home, not up here in the blazing sunlight where she felt oddly exposed. Let’s just get this over with, so I can get back down there, she thought to herself as she flew past a rather cylindrical building. If I ever make it out of this one.

She piloted her speeder skillfully through a small space between two buildings, then headed south towards the building that she would be meeting the associate at. And maybe the place she would be meeting her fate at, too. 

Finally, the building came into view. It was a squat, rectangular building, and probably a couple of centuries old. Unlike most of Coruscant’s more tended-to buildings, however, it showed that age quite blatantly. The metal walls were rusting in various places, windows were covered in thick layers of dust collected over the years, and many of the rooms inside, at least the ones that Irevene could see, were vacant but scattered with dusty old furniture and computer consoles that looked like they had been made way back during the time of the Galactic Empire. 

Maneuvering the speeder onto a landing pad that looked like it might break off from the building at any given moment, Irevene hopped out and reached into the back of the airspeeder, opening the secret compartment hidden there. She grabbed the valuable item from inside the compartment and started towards the building looming ahead. 

She had almost reached the doors when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something small fly by her and swirl around in the air to come back and land on the pad beside her airspeeder. Turning swiftly around, Irevene saw that it was a small ITX Transport shuttle, with the Durrve Corporation insignia painted on the side. The ramp lowered and out walked a medium-height, middle-aged man with slightly gTonising hair. He wore the garb of one of Lord Durrve’s personal associates and was being escorted by two large bodyguards. 

With a cautious glance back at the building behind her, Irevene started towards the three men.

They had made it halfway down the eighth corridor by the time the associate was willing to talk to Irevene. 

“I take it you are Irevene Su’rusaa,” the man said, glancing briefly in her direction. It wasn’t a question. 

Irevene nodded slightly, aware that the man most likely already knew perfectly well who she was. 

The man turned a corner. “We are almost there. When we enter the room, please do not speak until first spoken to,” he warned her. “For your own safety, of course.”

Irevene shivered. They reached a door and the man stopped in front of it, gesturing with his hand for her to enter. She stepped through as the door opened, with only the slightest creak, finding herself in a narrow but long room, with a likewise long table in the center, chairs surrounding it all the way around. However, only one chair was currently occupied. 

By Lord Durrve himself. 

Irevene stood frozen for a moment in the doorway, shocked by the man’s presence. However, she quickly regained control of herself and bowed. 

“You may be seated,” Lord Durrve told her in a gravelly voice. 

Lord Durrve waited until she had seated herself, then continued. “You have the item, I presume,” he told her, with only the slightest hint of menace in his voice.  
“Of course, your honor,” Irevene said cautiously, reaching into her tunic and retrieving the datacard. The datacard that held the innermost secrets of the Galactic Triumvirate, ones which could easily cause chaos all over Coruscant and the known galaxy if they ended up in the wrong hands. Surely the Durrve Corporation wasn’t planning on using them to single-handedly undermine the entire Triumvirate. But what else would they want the datacard for?

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Irevene handed the datacard over to Lord Durrve. After all, there was nothing she could do about it. She was merely a fringe smuggler trying to make her way in the galaxy, and all she cared about was the credits. Then she could leave.

Lord Durrve studied the datacard for a moment, then pulled out a datapad from somewhere and slid the card into the slot on the bottom. He sat there for a long while, reading the datapad, and finally looked up at her. “I am pleased with your work, Irevene. You have done well.” He paused for a second, his eyes flicking to the doorway. “However, I am afraid that this datacard has been altered. Did you really think you could fool me that way?”

“But, I didn’t alter-,” Irevene started. But it was too late. Suddenly, from the doorway, came the sound of a blaster firing.

**********

Tonis awoke with a start. He was drenched in sweat, and his heart was pounding hard in his chest. He looked around the room, blinking, as his eyes tried to find something to look at in the dark room. He must have had a nightmare, but, oddly, he couldn’t remember what he had dreamt about that had been so terrifying. All he could remember was the face of his mom, drifting slowly away from him…

He shook the thought from his head. There would be no sense in mourning over someone he had lost over five years ago. Not now. He had work to do.

Slipping out of his drenched clothes, and getting into his normal bounty-hunting uniform, he made his way to the apartment’s door. A rather small apartment, but he couldn’t afford anything bigger or nicer. Oh well, he thought, maybe one day I can live in luxury. For now, there was work to be done.

He headed down the dank corridor, then keyed the turbolift at the end to bring him to the ground floor. Stepping inside, he shut the door and down he went.

He had been lying on the roof for over three hours before his target walked into his rifle’s sights. It was a Trandoshian, a menacing and violent species in many cases. He wasn’t surprised to see one working for Lord Durrve. 

Aiming the sights of his Xerrol Nightstinger on the alien, he slowly brought his finger to rest on the trigger. The Nightstinger’s laser bolt would not be seen, as the Nightstinger was notorious for being able to fire invisible bolts. And that was exactly why he had chosen it for this mission. The last thing he needed was for Lord Durrve to be sniffing around his feet. 

Tonis slowly pulled back on the trigger, the Nightstinger kicked slightly, and it was over. The alien dropped to the ground, probably wondering what had hit him. Tonis waited a few more seconds to make sure he was dead, then got up and headed back towards the edge of the roof. He turned on his B-27 Silent Jetpack Unit, and silently, he flew down to the ground below. 

His feet hit the hard stone, and he was off. Silently, swiftly, he ran through the shadows of lower Coruscant toward the safety of his apartment. The building came into sight, and not wasting a moment, Tonis sped off toward it.

**********

Irevene reacted in an instant. Dropping to the floor, she reached inside her tunic and pulled out the small blaster hidden there. Flinging it toward the direction of the shooter, she fired. The bolt sizzled through the air and flew right into the bodyguard’s chest. The other bodyguard was quick, however. Before the first guard had even hit the floor, he had his blaster out and trained on her. 

She rolled away just as the bolt sizzled past her left shoulder in the space where she had just been. Getting swiftly back onto her feet, she aimed her blaster at the second guard and soon he was on the floor with the first one. The associate was now standing in the door alone, his eyes wide with apparent fear. However, even as Irevene turned to aim her blaster on him, his expression quickly turned smug. Confused, Irevene turned back to where Lord Durrve was sitting, being careful to keep her blaster and one eye trained on the associate. 

But he was not there.

“What?” Irevene said, startled. “Where’d he go?” she asked, turning back to the man in the doorway. 

He just shrugged. “How should I know?”

She stood there for a moment, looking around the room for some sort of secret door or passage. But there was none that she could see. She ran her fingers over the walls, and by the time she reached the last wall, she had still had no luck. She was on the last few feet of the wall when suddenly she felt her finger pass over a very slight ridge. Retrieving her combat knife from inside her tunic, she dug it into the tiny crack in the wall. Slowly she pried the secret door open, keeping an eye on the man in the doorway the whole time. 

After several tiring minutes of prying, the door was finally open enough for her to squeeze through. Surreptitiously pulling out her blaster again and switching it to stun mode, Irevene suddenly swiveled around and fired it at the man. Shocked, he tried to jump out of the way, but he was not quick enough. The stun blast hit him square in the chest, sending him sprawling on the floor beside the doorway. 

Irevene flipped the switch on her blaster and tucked it away inside her tunic. Squeezing through the secret doorway, she found herself in a narrow and dark passageway that stretched on for several meters before veering off to the right. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she headed down the tunnel. 

**********

“You have done well. Your next target will be exiting the building in a matter of minutes. Be prepared.” 

The hologram shut off, and Tonis slipped the holoprojector into his pocket. Pulling out his Nightstinger, he crouched down behind the ridge on the edge of the building’s roof. Focusing the crosshairs on the small hatch in the wall, he waited for the target to emerge. 

Sure enough, a few minutes later he saw the hatch open and a tall, lean figure emerge from it. He waited until they were standing and aimed for the chest. He zoomed in his scope so he could get a better shot. He pulled the trigger, but missed the target. The figure had swiftly moved behind a building right before he shot. Darn, he thought. Good thing they couldn’t see the bolt. 

He got up and started in the direction the target had gone. He was about to round a corner when someone came running around it and slammed into him, knocking him down. He hit the ground hard, but his jetpack took most of the impact. He looked up, to find a tall woman with dark brown hair staring down at him. 

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to run into you,” she said, a bit nervously.

“That’s alright.” Getting back to his feet, with the assistance of the woman, he brushed off his clothes. “You look familiar. You by chance work for Durrve?”

Surprise washed over her face for a second, then subsided. “Who are you?” she asked skeptically. 

“I’m just a bounty hunter. So do you work for him or not?”

“Maybe. Why? Are you going to kill me?” she asked tauntingly.

“I can always bring you in warm, if that’s what you mean,” he said wryly.

Before he could react, she pulled out a small blaster pistol and had it trained on him. “I would just back away if I were you,” she said, nudging him with the blaster. 

“Wait, wait. Alright, I admit it. I was going to kill you, but that was before I --” 

“Before you what? Don’t try to make excuses. Come on, you’re coming with me. You might be worth something.”

He thought about making a run for it, but decided against it. Reluctantly, he followed her down the street into the dark catacombs that lay in front of them.

**********

After a while, they stopped at a fairly dark complex at the end of a similarly dark alley. Irevene led Tonis through the doors and into a damp corridor that ended with a single turbolift entrance. They made it to the lift, and pressing the button to go to the top floor, Irevene crossed her arms and waited. 

“Where are you taking me?” Tonis asked her.

“That’s for me to know, and you to find out,” she said sardonically, giving him a glare.

He didn’t seem to be affected by it any, however. “You know, I would be willing to work with you, instead of against you, if you would let me.”

“Yeah, and how am I supposed to trust that you won’t just turn me in or shoot me?” 

“Because I know that you are on the run from Durrve, and he wants you killed,” he said.

“No, I work for him,” she said, acting confused. How does he know that?

“You can stop acting now,” he said. “I know he wants you killed because you tampered with his precious datacard. But what he doesn’t know is that I was the one who tampered with it, not you.”

In the blink of an eye, Irevene had a blaster pulled out from inside her coat and trained on Tonis’s chest. “How do you know all of this? Who are you?”

He threw up his arms and acted innocent. “Whoa there, calm down,” he said. “I can explain, just put the blaster away and I can tell you everything you know.”

“Fine, but you better not--” she started. The turbolift came to a stop, and the doors opened. They walked out into a dusty room filled with windows and old, out-of-date furniture and equipment. At a desk sat a large man who looked as if he hadn’t shaved in decades, and apparently didn’t know what hygiene was. He was covered in grease stains, dirt, and random other nastiness from head to toe. He grunted as they walked in, scratching his forest of a beard. “Well, well, well. What have you brought me this time, Irevene?”

“A bounty hunter. I betcha he’s worth his fair share to the right people,” she said, pushing Tonis forward, none to gently.

Tonis glanced over at her, and gave her a betTonised look. “Please, Irevene. We’re on the same side, I promise,” he whispered. 

She just gave him another shove. “Mr. Forrdus, if you would excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” He nodded, so she started back toward the turbolift. As the doors were closing, she caught a few words from back in the room. “-- I have some special stuff planned for you, bounty hunter scum.”

She shook her head, trying to rid her conscience of the guilty feeling that kept creeping up into her. You did your duty. Now stop thinking about him and move on.

As the turbolift doors opened, she heard a faint noise from the opposite side of the corridor, near the doors. Pulling out her blaster pistol, she slowly moved towards it. She reached the doors, and peeked out. Seeing nothing, she eased her way out of the building. 

Irevene didn’t know what the noise had been, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. Keeping an eye on the many corridors and alleys, she made her way back to her dwelling. Just as she was rounding a corner, a blaster bolt came sizzling toward her. She fell to the ground, the bolt missing her by mere millimeters. Hitting the ground hard, she tracked her pistol toward the spot where the bolt had come from. She lit the place up, barrels and crates exploding and flaring to life with the flames. Shadows danced across the walls of the alley as the flames lit up the area. 

A small shadow moved near the spot where the bolt had come from, and suddenly a man was leaping out at her. She tried to dodge, but he caught her square in the chest, knocking her to the ground once again. Dazed, she raised her hand to fire a shot at the assailant, but her blaster wasn’t in it. She pulled herself to her knees, but the man knocked her down again. 

Irevene saw him pull a nasty looking knife from his belt. I have to do something, now. She suddenly remembered she had a backup knife in her boot, so she reached into it and retrieved the knife. Swiftly, she slid away from the man, and, swinging the blade around, thrust it into his side. With a sickening sound, it sunk into his body, and he fell to the ground. She quickly got to her feet and started off toward her apartment once again.

**********

Tonis didn’t know what was going to happen to him, but he was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be good, whatever it was. Following the large man toward a speeder, he realized it wouldn’t be that difficult to escape. After all, other than Forrdus, there were only three guards, and he was fairly certain he could take all of them. They were almost to the speeder, when all of a sudden, he flipped around and lunged himself at the nearest of the three guards. He slammed into him, knocking them both to the ground. He came back up to his feet, and was about to come after the second guard when he was hit with a stun blast from behind.

He felt his conscience start to fade, but he wouldn’t let himself go out that easily. He slowly got back to his feet, and was about to start after the guard again when he was hit with yet another stun blast. This time, no matter how hard he fought, his conscience deserted him. He fell to the ground hard, and heard Forrdus say something right before he passed out. “--foolish to think you could escape. I won’t be so nice next time, slime.”

As he came to, he realized he was inside an airspeeder, sitting in the back. Only two guards were in the speeder, sitting in the row of seats in front of him. They soon came to a landing at a platform jutting out of a large building. The guards pulled him out roughly and set him on the platform. He was shoved forward, and Forrdus came up next to his side. 

“You will follow me inside the building, and there I will hand you over to your new owner. You got that? No tricks, bounty hunter. Or I won’t play nice anymore.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t intend on playing nice either,” Tonis said, mustering all of the little bit of strength he had left to make his voice as menacing as possible. The large man just laughed, a hideous, deep bellow, and shoved him toward the building’s entrance. They had almost reached the doors when, out of the corner of his eye, Tonis saw a figure swoop in and knock down both of the guards with one swift motion. 

“What the--” Tonis started, turning around to get a better look. Just then, the figure came up behind Forrdus and knocked him to the ground hard. For the first time, Tonis got a good look at the figure, and gasped. “Irevene? What are you doing?”

“No time to explain, let’s get out of here,” she said, grabbing his hand and leading him toward the airspeeder. Just as they reached it, the doors to the building opened and out came several guards, with blasters aimed at them. “Get in!” Irevene shouted, shoving him into the speeder. She climbed into the pilot’s seat, and they were off. A few blaster bolts bounced off of the hull of the speeder, but did no serious damage. 

As they were flying off into the night sky, Tonis righted himself in his seat. “Why did you come back for me, especially considering how risky it was?” 

She was silent for a moment. “I thought about what you said. I figured you were telling the truth, and besides, I could use your help.”

Tonis thought for a moment, then nodded. “Fair enough. By the way, thank you.”

She just rolled her eyes. “I only did it because you have information I want.”

“Sure,” he said accusingly. “So, where are we going?”

“To my apartment. There, you can tell me everything I want to know.”

**********


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

The turbolift doors opened and Durrve stepped out into the dimly lit room. He motioned to one of the guards, and he stepped over to him. “Your orders, sir?”

“My associate, Irevene, has escaped. She has tampered with a valuable piece of information, and I want her dead.”

“Yessir. What would you have me do?” the guard asked, rather eagerly.

“I want you to gather your men and track her down. Do whatever you must, as long as she is killed. Do you understand? No mercy,” Durrve said grimly.

“As you wish, sir.” The guard turned and motioned to the other two guards in the room, and they left. Lord Durrve walked over to his desk and turned the holoprojector on. A slightly translucent, blue image of a large, muscular Twi’lek appeared above his desk. “My lord, what do you require of me?” 

“Argr’yndo, I want you to round up your troops. We have a dangerous asset on the loose, and I want her dead. Scan the surrounding area, check every alley, street and building. I don’t want her getting away.”

“I will begin immediately. She will not get away, Lord Durrve,” the Twi’lek said with a wry smile on his face.

“Very good.” Durrve shut off the projector, and turned toward the window. She will not get away. She will pay for what she has done. I want that information, and nothing will stop me from getting it.

**********

Tonis turned away from the window as Irevene stepped into the room holding a couple of mugs. “Here. Some nice Correllian whiskey.” She handed him one of the steaming drinks, and he took a sip of the warm, spicy liquid. It felt good after all of the excitement from the past few days. He didn’t realize how exhausted he was until now, and he was glad he could rest for at least a little while. Well, rest might be an overstatement. Getting interrogated doesn’t sound entirely too relaxing to me.

“Thank you. Tastes wonderful,” he said, getting another sip.

“Just to soften you up. It will make it easier to get information out of you.”

“You’re just a bundle of joy, aren’t you?” Tonis said, smirking.

“Very funny. Now, for the questions. Who do you work for, and why were you trying to kill me and other associates of Durrve’s?”

“Well, I was hired by someone who apparently wanted Durrve dead, and didn’t want him getting the information on that datapad. So, I was hired to eliminate some of his people, and I also tampered with the datacard so he couldn’t get the information on it.”

“Alright, and that’s why you were trying to kill me?” said Irevene, with an accusing look on her face.

“Uh, yeah. But I figured you were on the run from Durrve, and I thought you could help me overtake him.” 

“Just because he was trying to kill me doesn’t mean I want to try to kill him. Besides, that would be suicide.”

“I’m getting paid handsomely. The more damage I do to him and his ‘criminal empire’, the more credits I receive. If you help me out, we could split the reward.” 

Irevene thought for a moment, then shook her head. “It’s just too risky. Sorry, but I can’t help you.”

“Alright, fine. But isn’t Durrve going to be coming for you?” 

“Probably, but I can handle myself. You can leave now, that’s all I needed to know,” she said, motioning towards the door.

“Fine. Be careful though,” he said, standing up and walking over to the door. He stopped right before he reached the door, turning back to look at Irevene. “What?” she said.

“Nothing. Well, goodbye.” Reluctantly, he stepped out the door and headed down the hall.

**********

The corridor was musty. Fresh air from the surface of Coruscant rarely made it down this far, and thus the air in these lower levels tended to become dank and humid, making it difficult to breathe. Tonis had gotten used to it by now, however, living his whole life in this miserable place. He longed for nothing more than to blast off in a starship and see the rest of the galaxy.

He moved down the hall at a brisk pace, always aware of his surroundings. He had developed these hunter’s traits from his long career of collecting bounties. He was always on the move, and always watching. Very few people were stealthy enough to sneak up on him without his noticing.

He turned a corner, and found himself in a dimly-lit alley littered with crates and garbage cans. Tonis checked to make sure his blaster pistol was still resting in its holster, then started down the alley. He checked behind each crate and canister, confirming the absence of hostiles before moving on. He made his way toward a tall, rusty metal building on the opposite side of the street adjacent to the alley. 

The door slid open, reluctantly, and Tonis stepped into the dimly lit lobby. He made his way up the stairs, which he was sure were going to fall apart beneath his weight, and into his apartment room.

**********

He was large, muscular, and wore an expression of pure evil. His brain tails hung loose behind his large head, tattoos wrapped all around them. He smiled, but it was not a smile of joy. No, it was an expression of pure hatred, and it sent a bone-chilling shiver through Irevene. 

“You’re coming with me, womp rat,” the Twi-lek said, pointing a blaster rifle at her face. “Now.”

Irevene wanted to run, to attack even, but that did not seem possible. If she moved even an inch, she would have a gaping hole in her skull from the rifle. She ran the possible scenarios through her head, but nothing came to her. “Fine. But you better watch out, I’m dangerous, and liable to kill you.”

The Twi-lek laughed, a disturbing noise. “You’re the one who’s going to be dead, girl.”

There was no way he could’ve known it was coming. She reacted in an instant, years of training allowing for such motions of attack. Her leg swiveled out to her right, rotating, until her heel connected solidly with the Twi-lek’s knee. She heard it crunch, and he toppled to the ground, screaming.

Irevene grabbed the blaster rifle he had been carrying, and started toward the street adjacent to the alley she was in. She reached it right as a speeder flew by. Her loose hair whipped back from the air blown by the speeder’s repulsorlifts. 

Across the street was a cantina, its brightly-lit neon sign made that abundantly clear. She decided to avoid it; the usual characters in those places weren’t the kind of people she wanted to meet right now. She turned left, and continued down the walkway beside the street. Ahead, she saw what must have been a Triumvirate police speeder chasing another speeder. 

She took another left, onto a street barely occupied. To her right, Irevene saw an Ithorian strolling down the walkway, and to her left, a male human was chatting with a female of the same species. Other than that, however, the entire block was vacant as far as Irevene could see. 

Strolling down the right side of the street, she heard a small metallic noise, coming from a small alley a few feet in front of her. Out of reflex, she grabbed her blaster pistol from its holster, and slowly made her way toward the alley. She glanced inside the alley, but saw nothing. That’s funny, I could’ve sworn I heard something.

She stepped into the alley, making sure to stay quiet. She swept her pistol back and forth in front of her as she advanced, looking behind every obstruction, looking for the source of the noise. If, she thought, there even was a noise.

Then, out of nowhere, a bright red blaster bolt lit up the alley. It caught Irevene in her left shoulder, sending her tumbling backward, and she landed hard on the concrete floor. Her head impacted, and the universe went black.

**********

“You have her? Good.” Lord Durrve smiled sinisterly. “Bring her to me, now.” 

A hologram, blue and staticky, hovered above his desk. The Twi-lek in the hologram said, “Yessir. Right away.” The hologram disappeared.

Durrve leaned back in his chair and waited for his prize to arrive.

Tonis sat at the bar, shot a look at the bartender, and said, “One Bespin Fizz, no ice.”

The bartender, after a few moments, slipped him a bright orange, fizzy drink. Tonis took a sip of the fizzy liquid and wiped a hand over his mouth. He glanced over at the right side of the cantina, near the booths, and something caught his attention. He glanced over at one of the booths, the one in the corner, and saw a tall, lean woman sitting there. 

He stood and made his way to the booth. He slipped into the booth opposite the woman. “Hey, Lhyra, how are you? It’s been a litle while,” he said, shooting her a cocky grin.

“Same as usual,” she said, her voice a rich, soothing noise. “Durrve’s got some of his minions trying to track me down, but you know how I am. No one can ever find me. I’m a shadow.”

“That you are. And you’re lucky you are, because you’ve done some things that would anger a lot of people. A lot of powerful people.”

Lhyra laughed, and brushed a lock of her shoulder-length red hair out of her face. “How’s it going with you, baby? Get any new kills?” She winked at him, and flashed him a sly smile. 

“I love when you smile like that. How do you do it?” Tonis asked, a wave of heat rolling over him.

She laughed again. “I make all the guys around here swoon. It’s a specialty of mine.”

“I’m not surprised. You’re a pretty attractive female,” Tonis said, chuckling. “Anyway, I’m doing alright. Had some run-ins with some of Durrve’s men, but I’m still in one piece.”

“So I can see. What were you doing that involved Durrve?” 

“Ah, nothing really important. Just the usual bounty collecting and such,” Tonis said, somewhat nervously. He didn’t want to talk about it with anyone until he had it all cleared up. “I better go get some rest. It’s been a long day.” He stood, gave Lhyra a casual smile, then turned and headed out the door.

Tonis tried to forget about all that had happened to him recently, but he couldn’t. His head swam with thoughts, too fast for him to hold on to any single thought and pursue it. He tried to stay alert as he walked down the alley, but he was having trouble keeping attentive.

He was about to turn a corner into a street when he thought he heard something behind him. He turned around to see if anything was there, but saw nothing. Now I’m imagining things. 

He kept walking, trudging slowly along, trying with all the energy he had left to stay aware of his surroundings. Tonis didn’t know what time it was, but he knew it had to be late. A swoop flew by him, and he felt himself sway to the left from the force the swoop’s repulsorlifts made. I’m really out of it. I better get home and get some rest, quick. 

He was walking down another dark alley when all of a sudden a figure dropped down, right in front of him, and said, “Boo!”

Tonis felt his knees give in and he tumbled backward to the ground. His head hit the ground, and his vision blurred. He knew his ambusher wasn’t going to harm him; if they were serious, they wouldn’t have said ‘boo’. But he couldn’t help falling; he simply had no energy left.

“Goodness, Tonis. I didn’t mean to give you a heart attack,” the figure said, hovering above him. “Come on, get up.” They held a hand out to him, and he gripped it. The figure heaved him to his feet with relative ease; obviously, they were quite strong. 

Tonis got to his feet, and got his first good look at his assailant. The figure was obviously a female, with curvy outlines and shoulder-length hair. Then he recognized them. “Lhyra! You followed me?”

“Yeah. Surprised to see me?” she said, placing her hands on her hips. “I would’ve just walked up to you like normal if I would’ve known you were going to get spooked like that.” She reached a hand to his shoulder and brushed it off. Her touch was soft, yet sturdy, and somehow it made Tonis feel safer.

“Yeah, kind of,” he said, reaching to grip her hand in his. “Why did you follow me, anyway?”

“I thought you looked tired, and maybe lonely too, so I thought maybe you could use a little company,” she said, giving him a sweet smile.

Tonis leaned his head down, so he was looking at the ground. “You don’t even know,” he said. He couldn’t tell her about what had happened, he knew. But he felt like he needed to get it out, to tell someone. Maybe then he could stop his head from racing and get some much-needed rest.

Lhyra wrapped a hand around his neck, and kissed him. “What is it, hon?”

And, despite himself, he told her everything that had happened to him in the past few days.

**********


End file.
